Final assessment by Aman Barfull, Clerk of the Course of the 49 RallyRACC

(03/11/2013)

“We’ve innovated again and now drivers, spectators and the FIA are counting on us to continue on this path”

Managing a huge group of 2,500 people to organise an event of the FIA World Rally Championship is not an easy task, especially if this large group includes professionals of all fields, as well as volunteers working for the simple and essential satisfaction of helping. Aman Barfull, Clerk of the Course of the RallyRACC and senior official of the Motorsports area at the RACC club, leads the way of this huge event with results that talk for themselves: The Spanish Rally is one of the most valued rallies.

In addition to leading the sports activities of the RACC, Aman Barfull is extremely well connected in the world championship, as Vice-President of the FIA Rally Commission and member of the WRC Commission.

“When we finish a successful edition, like this year, the feeling we all have is of deep satisfaction for taking our rally to the top of the championship and turning it into the most varied rally of the calendar (night, tarmac and gravel). But one of the aspects I would like to highlight is that our intention to bring the rally closer to citizens, to make our sport more popular, continues achieving tangible results, as we were able to see at the start in BARCELONA and during the urban stage in SALOU. And we still have a long way ahead.

Spectators were always in our sights when designing, not only this 49th edition, but also the previous one. We started this new orientation one year ago, when we got the complicity of the Barcelona City Council and also the local TV channels. We insisted on it this year and provided something more, such as the start in Barcelona being the real start of the rally and a dissemination campaign of the RallyRACC which was much larger than ever before.

All our innovations of recent years were reflected in this edition, and they were successful again, but the most important fact is that all actors: drivers, teams, the FIA, spectators, collaborators, etc. are already counting on them for the future, meaning that our newly introduced options are not mere experiments, they are here to stay. The result is that the expectations are not only achieved, but exceeded, and that our race enjoys an enviable health. In only a few editions, we have turned the race with a predictable finish from a few years ago into a very complicated rally that everyone does not only accept, but wishes to continue like this.

For another year, the fact of thinking about the constant improvement of our sports product and to get and even boost the complicity of all, has put us on the top international level. Now we have some months ahead to think about our next innovations, and the next edition will be a very special edition, the 50th, a milestone that only a few races have reached. The RACC would like this half century to coincide with 10 years of close collaboration with the different institutions of the Costa Daurada, and I am sure that we will all work hard to make it. But for the moment, I want to celebrate with all our partners the achieved success, which might not have been unprecedented but better than any other. Congratulations to you all!”